Gov. John Kasich leads his likely challenger for governor by 5 points, the closest the campaign has been thus far, according to a Quinnipiac Poll released yesterday.

Four years ago, Kasich, then the Republican challenger in the governor’s race, trailed the incumbent by 5 points at this stage of the campaign and wound up winning.

Democrat Ed FitzGerald said the poll gives him hope: “We’re exactly where we want to be.”

Kasich’s lead was narrowed despite FitzGerald botching his first running-mate pick and turning in an underwhelming fundraising performance.

Peter Brown, the poll’s assistant director, cautioned against drawing too many parallels with the 2010 race, in which Kasich toppled Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland by 2 points. “This election can be as much about what’s happening outside Ohio as inside Ohio,” Brown said.

The bad news for FitzGerald is that he’s been running for several months and fewer than 1 in 3 Ohioans knows enough about him to form an opinion. Perhaps more surprising, Brown said, is that about 1 in 4 says they don’t yet know enough about Kasich, who has been in office for more than three years.

The challenge for both campaigns is filling in those blanks. Brown said.

“Voters see Gov. John Kasich in a more favorable light when it comes to his personal characteristics than his handling of issues,” Brown said. “They give him high grades on leadership and positive ratings on trustworthiness and good judgment, though not so much on understanding the problems of average folks. He gets basically even scores on handling the budget, taxes and jobs, the latter of which is cited by voters as the top priority.”

Kasich still wins approval from 51 percent of Ohio voters for his performance, compared with 36 percent who disapprove.

A possible sign of trouble for Kasich lies in Ohioans’ views on his handling of the economy and jobs — the centerpiece of his 2010 campaign and his first three years in office — although it could be just a survey quirk.

In Quinnipiac’s November and June polls, at least 50 percent approved of Kasich’s performance on the economy, but “jobs” was not included in the question. When it was added for this poll, the approval dropped to 44 percent, compared with 46 percent who disapprove.

With Democrats launching their campaign by emphasizing abortion and women’s issues, the governor’s race shows a decided gender gap. Kasich is up 16 points among men, while FitzGerald is now ahead by 5 among women. Kasich was up by 1 with women in November.

The Kasich campaign does not respond to polls and declined to comment.

Quinnipiac’s telephone poll interviewed 1,370 registered Ohio voters via both land lines and cellphones from Feb. 12 through Monday. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points — meaning in theory the race could be about tied, or Kasich could be up by 10 points.